For Christmas You
by OffCenterFold
Summary: Gray and Mary have come to Selphia for their Honeymoon and find themselves on their way to forging new friendships - and maybe lending a helping hand so someone else can have a happy Christmas... (This may be expanded later, but as it stands is a one-shot Secret Santa 2014 gift for Shimmerleaf! Please enjoy!)


**For Christmas You**

"Frey. There you are."

"Dylas…"

"I'm sorry. Honest."

"Wha?"

"I heard. …From everyone. They told me how hurt you were. …I was dumb. I thought about you and what I did all last night. And I realized all I ever do is hurt you. I don't mean to. It's just…these feelings…this relationship… None of it is stuff I've done before. I…don't know what to do. It's… it's…. ARGH! Dammit, I can't put it into words right! A-anyway, um… If you decide to forgive me… Will you come to the front of the castle tomorrow?

"Dylas, hold on. I don't know what you're talking about. I mean, did you have some kind of reason for doing what you did?

"Uh… I-I'll tell you tomorrow! And if you still don't feel like forgiving me by tomorrow, it can be later. It can be the day after tomorrow, it can be next week, in 10 years, in 100 years! I'll wait! And I'll keep waiting in front of the castle." He ran off, back to the forge where he'd been holing up all week.

Frey sighed and went about her day, but the more she tried not to think about it, the more it bothered her. She decided to go to bed almost immediately after dinner, which Clorica had brought to her in her room and for which the butler had been convinced to join her.

"Do you know, when we got together, he said, 'If you don't mind a dumbass like me…' I was just so happy he wanted to be with me at all, that I wasn't so upset that he said such a horrible thing about himself." Frey sighed, tugging on the end of a long green pigtail and pushing the last few grains of rice around on her plate.

"But that was months ago. Right now, I just want to… to hit him! He's been acting odd for days, ignoring and avoiding me, hiding out in Bado's forge as if I couldn't find him there. And he yelled at me! It was all so out of the blue… You've all been so supportive…" Frey trailed off. Some of the townsfolk had even gotten a little scary. "If I hadn't been so upset with him I might have been more amused at Forte's threat to cut him down, or Leon's offer to bury him outright! And then this morning he'd promised he'd tell me everything tomorrow. I'm trying not to think about it, but…"

Clorica was actually awake and listening sympathetically as Frey ranted at her. "But there's a blizzard coming," the butler pointed out with some concern.

"I know. But I'm still mad at him," Frey said. At the moment, she sounded more sad than angry, but Clorica chose not to say anything.

"I'm sure you'll feel better after you get some rest," she said. "I always feel better when I get some sleep."

The girls' eyes met and they laughed together. Clorica was more than a little relieved; everyone knew that Frey and Dylas were fighting and the princess had been utterly miserable.

"I'll just go make sure that the fields are ready for the storm," Frey said. Clorica merely nodded. Frey'd checked them three times already that evening, but if it made her feel better, the butler was disinclined to argue.

She passed through the Dragon Chamber, looking sadly at the empty pedestal where no dragon sat. (Frey, in a fit of _something_, had purchased a giant stuffed Rune Saur doll and plopped it in the empty space, but clearly it was a poor substitute for Lady Ventuswill.) Volkanon and Vishnal waited for her, delaying their nightly meeting until she arrived.

"Is she all right?" Vishnal asked, his tone worried. There was no need for him to clarify; even if he and Volkanon hadn't heard Frey's raised voice and distressed tone, it was true that everyone knew what had gone on between her and her – well, whether or not Dylas was still her boyfriend remained to be seen.

"I think she will be. I don't know what he's thinking, treating her like that though…"

A knock on the door interrupted them. "Excuse me, I think we're lost…" A pair of tourists stood framed in the doorway to the butlers' quarters. The girl, whose dark hair was bound to one side in a loose braid, had spoken. The tall young man beside her wore an expression which clearly said, "I told you we don't need to ask directions."

"Ah! Welcome to Selphia," Vishnal said with a bright smile. "I'm Vishnal, and I'll be happy to help you find your way!" With a nod to Clorica, he indicated that they'd chat more later. She responded similarly and slipped off – probably for a nap, Vishnal figured. "It's very nice to meet you. Where are you going?"

"It's nice to meet you too, thank you," the girl said, glancing at her sullen companion. "I'm Mary, and this is Gray. We'd actually like to visit the blacksmith's. Gray would like to make a professional courtesy call."

Vishnal looked briefly nonplussed, causing the young couple to exchange a nervous glance, but quickly recovered his aplomb. "Of course! It's right this way, if you'll follow me. You're tourists?" he asked by way of making conversation.

Mary tucked her arm into Gray's as they followed the tall young man with light blue hair who led them out the door. "Yes. We're from a place called Mineral Town. We came here on our honeymoon," Mary admitted with shy happiness.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Vishnal turned to face them, bubbling over with excitement. "Congratulations on your marriage. May you have a long and happy life together," he said sincerely as they exited the square. "And here we are," he continued.

"That's it? …Sorry," Gray said in response to a chastising glance from his bride. Neither of them wanted to say anything, but it did seem to be larger and more advanced than his grandfather's simple forge in Mineral Town. "It's just that we were really close already."

"But thank you for showing us the way," Mary said graciously. Vishnal held the door open for her, then followed Gray inside.

"Bado! Are you here? You have company!" Vishnal entered the room and stuck his head around the side of the dividing wall.

"Honor system?" Gray was muttering as an exceptionally tall, broad man emerged from the side of the building into which Vishnal wasn't peeking.

"Hi. I'm Bado. I'm the blacksmith around here, I guess. "How can I help you today?" Remembering the stern lecture Arthur had delivered at Forte's insistence, Bado was under orders to be on his best behavior for visitors.

"This is Gray, and I'm Mary. We're from a place called Mineral Town, where Gray is in training to become a blacksmith as well, and we thought we would pay a courtesy call." Mary smiled up at her apparently unimpressed spouse.

"It's nice to meet ya," Bado said genially, not offering a hand to Gray, who accepted the courtesy with a nod. Vishnal, seeing his attendance was no longer needed, slipped out discreetly.

"Likewise," he said, and it was clear that despite his taciturn nature, he meant it. Bado was an impressive figure, and while there was much about the shop that was made in a rather lackadaisical fashion, there were quite a few tools that were of very good quality – and some weapons. It was these that captured Gray's attention, and to which he wandered over with a curious gleam in his eye.

"Nice," he said appreciatively as Bado came to see what he was looking at.

"Yeah, I don't like to display 'em, but Forte insisted. And she got the Princess to back her up, so, what can I do, you know?" His shrug was eloquent. Gray's mouth twitched in silent understanding. "I don't much like makin' weapons anymore, and when I do, I usually make 'em practice quality."

Mary smiled, covering it with her hand. "In other words, you don't bother putting much effort into it."

"Well, that's another way of sayin' it," Bado admitted unapologetically. The two men shared an understanding glance.

"I don't think Grandfather Saibara would stand for that sort of thing," Mary pointed out, giving her husband a significant look.

"No, that he wouldn't," he agreed with a twinkle in his eye. "He's a tough old bird."

"Nothin' wrong with hard work," Bado said, "if that's what you love to do. Me, I don't." He laughed heartily. "I'd rather think of ways to earn money while doing as little as possible, but sometimes you gotta put your heart into it anyway, huh?"

"That's true," Gray agreed as Mary nodded. He looked down at her fondly. "You should read Mary's books sometime. She's a really good writer, if you want to talk about putting your heart into it."

"Oh?" Bado's interest was piqued.

"Oh," Mary blushed as she waved a hand in protest, "It's nothing really special…"

"Don't be so modest," Gray cajoled. "She's really great. Her stories are so creative, and she writes so well."

Mary blushed harder.

"So a writer and a blacksmith, huh? That's an unusual combination. How did you two meet?"

"Mary runs the library back home."

"We're from Mineral Town. It's pretty far away, and a very small town," Mary said in reply to Bado's questioning glance. "So it's a fairly small library, but we do have a good collection."

"Her father is a well-known botanist," Gray picked up where Mary had left off. "There's an entire section dedicated to his books, too." He looked proudly down at his wife again. "When I first came to town, I wasn't fitting in very well. Mary was one of the first people to really be nice to me. My own fault, mostly." He flashed a quick grin, a little embarrassed. "I'm not really much of a people person."

"That's not true. You're just very selective in the company you keep," Mary said softly. There was a glint in her eye, though; marriage to Gray had brought out some of her humor.

Bado laughed. "Oh, I like that! Mind if I use it? 'Selective in the company you keep…' That's a good one!"

"Of course!" Mary said with a soft giggle. While Gray had been looking at the weapons, her eye had fallen on some accessories.

"Gray? Would you come take a look at these?" Mary had spied some rings that made her curious. When Gray approached, she asked his opinion on them.

"They're definitely beginner work. I'm kind of surprised they're up for sale, actually," he said thoughtfully.

"They're actually not," Bado said. "They're just there to fill out the display for a bit. My forge has been kind of unavailable to me for the last week or so." Gray and Mary gave him a blank look, and he lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Dylas is tryin' to make a ring for the Princess. It's supposed to be a surprise, so please don't say anything!"

"We won't," Mary promised. Her eyes sparkled at the idea. "That's so romantic! He's making her a ring, just like you did for me," she said, with an adoring look for her spouse, who blushed and muttered something.

"Those are some of his earlier attempts; I figure to melt and reforge 'em later, but for now they're placeholders. He said he didn't care, so…" Bado shrugged. "If Frey finds out, she'll probably get mad at me. She's already upset about the whole fight with Dylas…" He stopped at approaching footsteps from the other room.

"Excuse me, Bado? Could you – oh, excuse me," a tall man said as he emerged from the same room Bado had shortly before. He was easily the same height as the blacksmith, perhaps a bit taller, though much leaner. His long, flowing hair was a soft periwinkle, and it flowed in waves well down his back. His ears were pointed and fluffy, and his tail matched his hair.

His ears and tail? Gray and Mary tried not to stare.

"Oh, hey, Dylas, sure. Gimme a minute, I'd like you to meet Gray and Mary. They're here for their honeymoon," Bado said with a grin. "Gray's a smith too."

"Apprentice, really. Nice to meet you." Gray nodded, sensing a handshake wouldn't be welcome. Mary nodded shyly.

"Y-yeah, same here. I'll just be back there," Dylas muttered, looking uncomfortable. "Whenever you're free, Bado." He turned, all but fleeing into the back.

Bado sighed. "Sorry, folks. I should make sure he's not gonna burn down the forge or anything. Not that I'm worried he will, really, but, well… I won't bore ya with local gossip." He cracked a sudden grin. "If you want that, ya gotta talk to Kiel."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll wait. Mr. Dylas seems rather upset about something," Mary said.

"If you're sure…" When Mary and Gray both nodded, he flashed an apologetic and appreciative grin and slipped back into the forge proper. Bado was surprised and pleased that the former Guardian had asked for help after nearly a week of hiding out in the forge. It was long since overdue, and given that Bado had finally gotten the reason out of Dylas the night before, he was all too happy to help.

"Damn it," Dylas was muttering over and over. "It's just not right… Bado, what am I doing wrong?"

"You're thinkin' too much about it. Here, I'll show ya…" While he and Dylas worked on the youth's project, Gray studied the rings more carefully. "Oh, hey, I see… Excuse me, may I make a suggestion?" He made his way to the doorway of the forge proper. Mary glanced at him curiously.

"Sure! Come on back," Bado said cheerfully, as Dylas protested vehemently. "Oh come on, Dylas, he's just trying to help."

"Sorry to butt in," Gray said, "but I was looking at the rings you'd made earlier and I think I see what the problem is. You're soldering instead of brazing; gold can be a pain to work with. If you raise the temperature… May I?" He reached toward the blowtorch with a questioning expression.

Dylas looked wary, but at Bado's encouraging nod, Gray took up the tool and examined it carefully. "Yeah, the temperature's set too low. This is set for an alloy, but you're working with 24 karat, right?"

Dylas nodded. "Y-yeah. You could tell just by looking?" He was clearly impressed.

Gray shrugged, but Bado was looking at him appraisingly. "Good eye," was all the older smith said.

"Thanks," he muttered, his cheeks slightly flushed. "I've set the temperature higher; it should work better. What kind of stone are you using?"

"Here," Dylas said, reaching out for a decent sized pink gem. "It's a sapphire."

"Nice… Hey, this isn't a sapphire! This is a pink diamond!"

"What!?" Dylas was somewhere between outraged and amazed. "There is such a thing?"

"Yeah. They're found in Mineral Town and a few other places but they're really rare…"

"I thought Arthur was up to something when he sold this to me," Dylas muttered.

"Did he overcharge you?" Bado wanted to know.

Dylas was shaking his head. "That's just it. He told me it was an imported gem not available around here. I assumed it was a sapphire since it kinda looks like a high quality one, but he gave it to me for 10,000G… A bit high for a sapphire but not if it is high quality. Doug got me the gold ore, I didn't ask how, but he just gave it to me and said something about 'not screwin' this up too', whatever he meant by that."

Gray nodded. "Ten thousand G is the going rate for a pink diamond in Mineral Town. I'm pretty sure that's what this is…"

Mary had heard the conversation and, staying by the doorway, nodded. "I know Claire has been working very hard in the mines this winter; Cliff's been worried because she's working so hard. I remember her saying something about a request for pink diamonds from a foreign merchant, too."

"Pink diamond, huh? Yeah, she'll get a kick out of that," Dylas mused.

"I'm just impressed Arthur sold it to you at cost," Bado smirked.

"Hey! Arthur's a good guy, and he's honest!" Dylas defended his friend.

Bado laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. "Hey, no worries; I know it. I like the guy, even if he is a workaholic." Bado made a face at the idea and Dylas laughed. Gray and Mary joined in.

"Will it be hot enough yet?" Dylas asked, stifling a yawn.

Gray checked. "Should be, since you're working with the fire directly. Pure gold actually has a higher melting temperature than many other metals, so you've got to be especially careful of what you use to attach things. If you hand me that hard gold solder there, instead of that brass you've been using, you should have better luck." He held up the gold solder next to the brass.

"I guess that explains it, huh," Dylas said ruefully. "I thought the brass would be easier."

"That may be my fault," Bado chuckled without much shame. "I'm the one who planted that idea in your head, but I didn't know then what you were tryin' to do."

"You didn't?" Mary asked.

"Nope. Dylas here managed to keep it a secret until this morning, when I told him about the Dylas punishment Kit I was about to stock," the smith said, with only a hint of the anger he'd expressed earlier.

"Dylas punishment kit?" The newlyweds exchanged a glance rich with confusion.

"They may as well hear everything," Dylas said disgustedly. "I used to wonder where Kiel learned to gossip."

Bado shrugged. "It's your own fault they know this much," he pointed out. Dylas merely snorted. "Anyway, Dylas has been with the princess for a while now. It's funny really. She's so bright and cheery and he's so quiet, some call him sullen, you'd think they had no patience for each other, but really they make a good couple." He watched along with Gray and Mary as the tall youth carefully applied the soldering chip to the ring. "Anyway, most of a week ago, Dylas suddenly showed up here one morning and had a huge fight with Frey. Pretty much everyone in town heard it," he added with an unimpressed expression, "and pretty much everyone was on Frey's side.

'Understandable, because she didn't do anything wrong. We were all set to go after him – most people did. I think I was the only one who stuck around long enough to hear his side, and that's because he's been holed up in here where I live from dawn to midnight for almost a week, tryin' to get this ring done just right."

"Wow," Mary sighed. "That's almost romantic." She nudged Gray's side and the two of them laughed at some private joke.

About to protest, Dylas only sent them an indignant look before he saw that the comment had been between the visiting couple, and sighed instead. "Almost… got it…" He was maneuvering the decent sized pink diamond into the setting he'd painstakingly created and the others watched with bated breath.

"…There!" He pressed it in with a gentle but firm hand and only when it seemed to be set did he release the ring, placing it in the vise to set and cool properly. Sitting back with a sigh, he wiped his brow and grinned triumphantly at his audience.

Mary burst into spontaneous applause, followed by Gray and Bado with some amusement. The two smiths crowded around the workbench and Dylas allowed them to see. They made appreciative noises.

"It's not perfect, I know, but it's got my heart in it," he said softly.

"Now _that_ is romantic," Bado said bluntly, evoking laughter from all four of them.

Gray stifled a yawn, and Mary blushed. "I'm sorry. Can we come back tomorrow? It's been a long day, and we should check in to the hotel before it gets any later."

"Oh, sure! They're saying there's going to be a blizzard tomorrow, but if you don't mind the weather, we'll be open."

"Open the day before Christmas? During a blizzard?" Gray and Mary exchanged shocked glances. "You must have much milder blizzards than we do. During a storm in Mineral Town, no one can go outside at all," Gray said, not sure if he should be impressed.

"Yeah, well. I promised Frey I'd tell her everything tomorrow, and that I'd wait for her outside the castle. Forever, if that's what it takes for her to forgive me. And blizzard or no, that's exactly what I'm gonna do! If I freeze, it'll serve me right anyway, the way I treated her… But I hope she forgives me. I want to spend Christmas with her. Christmas, and every day forever." He blurted the last out and blushed furiously when he realized he'd said it aloud.

"Go home, Dylas, and get some rest. Maybe you can show Gray and Mary to Bell Bath, since it's on your way." Bado's scolding was not untampered by kindness.

"Yeah, sure." The former Guardian smiled tiredly. "I'll just leave this here to set overnight if that's okay."

At Bado's nod, he smiled and beckoned the visitors to follow him.

"Arthur tells me that other places celebrate Christmas differently than we do here. What's it like in Mineral Town?" he asked as he led them up the street.

"We don't actually have Christmas, though we've heard of it; we have the Starry Night Festival, which is celebrated at the same time. It's a romantic festival, really, and you spend it with the person or people you love. Mostly we celebrate it with family, and it's really celebrated the night before – tomorrow night, actually." Mary blushed as she sneaked a glance at Gray, who smiled and squeezed her hand. "Usually we celebrate with my family, and Grandfather Saibara joins us, but this year, we wanted to celebrate just the two of us. Gifts are exchanged in secret and opened the next morning, as a surprise."

Dylas nodded. "That sounds nice. Here it's sort of the same, but the story goes if you make a wish on a star with someone special, you'll be t-together f-forever." He was blushing and nervous as he finished the statement. "We're here. I'll see ya soon. Enjoy your stay," he blurted and took off at a run.

Mary and Gray exchanged another amused glance.

"He's weird," Gray muttered.

"He's a lot like you," Mary observed.

"No he's not!" the smith's apprentice protested as he held the door open for his wife.

"How is he not?" she giggled as she entered the building.

His reply was lost to Selphia as the door closed behind him.

_(You have no idea how stupid happy I was when I saw you liked RF4. I've been on a massive kick with it of late. I actually did leave Dylas standing outside my house in a blizzard for most of a day… Also sorry there's no actual Christmas; I never had the experience growing up – unless you count the Jewish Christmas Experience: Chinese food and movies! I do hope you enjoyed!) _


End file.
